Lies & Deceit
by Ms.K216
Summary: When Drex escapes from prison he wants revenge on Captain Man, but there's one little problem standing in his way. Kid Danger. Drex decides to team up with another one of Swellview's more competent criminals in order to get rid of Captain Man's sidekick once and for all. (I don't want to give things away, I promise the story is better than the summary!)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hi guys! I'm back with another Henry Danger story for you! This one is set before Henry has his superpower, and I place him at around fourteen years old in this one. This is loosely based off of the 'Hour of Power' episode… (well, the Drex backstory part of it is anyway).**

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"This is not good…" One of the guards at the Swellview prison said to himself, taking cautious steps backwards away from one of the cell doors. The man kept his eyes locked on the heavy metal barrier that was supposed to be locked tight and brought his radio to his lips.

"T- This is Officer Reed requesting backup in the high security sector. It appears that the door to Drex's cell has been tampered with, the prisoner's whereabouts are unknown at this time. Over." The officer waited for a response, but before he got one his radio was clicked off and he felt cold metal closing around his wrist.

"So, my whereabouts are unknown?" A menacing voice whispered from his place standing behind Officer Reed. The man shook his head, an amused little grin making its way across his face as he stepped around to face the officer. "Oh, how the tables have turned." He chuckled at the sight of the handcuff holding the policeman to the railing bolted to the wall. The sound of other officer's coming to respond to the call for backup echoed down the hall, giving the young officer a false sense of security.

"Get back in your cell!" Officer Reed yelled; he was trying to be brave and play the hero, but Drex saw right through it. The criminal took a menacing step towards the officer and bent closer so their noses were only centimeters away.

"Not even Captain Man will be able to stop me." With that Drex took off down the hallway, barely making a sound until he got to the stairwell and slammed the door open and tripped the alarm.

…

"Ray!" Schwoz came bursting into Junk N' Stuff from the backroom. Ray, who was actually trying to help a customer with a purchase furrowed his brow, turning to look at the smaller man.

"What's going on Schwoz, I'm kinda busy here." Ray answered, nodding his head in the direction of the gentleman standing on the other side of the counter with a wallet in his hand. Schwoz came around the counter, pushing the man towards the door despite the protests of both the customer and Ray.

"You come back later! We have important matter to attend to." Schwoz explained briefly as he closed the door in the man's face. Ray didn't look thrilled when the small man turned to look at him again.

"What was that?! You know it's not cheap to run this place _and_ keep the Man Cave up and running?!"

"No time!" Schwoz yelled, disregarding Ray's anger. "Drex escaped from prison!" The four words instantly changed Ray's entire demeanor. The man stiffened, his face hardening as he took out his tube of gum.

"Do you have any idea where he's heading?" Ray asked, popping a blue gumball into his mouth. Instantaneously, he transformed into Captain Man.

"Not really. The only thing I know is from what the police said when they called." Schwoz followed Captain Man through the backroom, continuing his explanation on the elevator ride down to the Man Cave. "Drex broke through the lock to his holding cell and waited for one of the officers to find it. When one of the policemen found out what had happened, Drex handcuffed him to a railing and told him 'Not even Captain Man will be able to stop me.'"

"Yeah, well we'll just see about that." Captain Man growled as he attached a few extra weapons to his utility belt. A few grenades, tranquilizer darts, and lasers later, Captain Man stepped under his tube, pausing for a second before he tapped his belt to bring it down. "Don't tell Henry about Drex."

"Ray…" Schwoz warned. "Henry was bound to find out eventually. Why not tell him now? It's not like it will change anything between the two of you."

"Exactly." Captain Man fired back. "It won't change anything so there's no need to get him all upset about it." The hero stared at Schwoz as his tube closed him in, he knew he couldn't trust him with this. The man told Henry about just about anything that Ray didn't want his young sidekick to know, so what would make this any different. "I mean it, Schwoz! If you tell him about Drex, you're not going to like what happens to you!"

"Whatever you say boss. I won't tell Henry about Drex…" Schwoz smiled innocently, and waited for Ray to disappear up the tube before his look morphed into something more devious. "... for now."

…

"Yeah, so then Marla told Jackie that _I_ was trying to be nice to Jana Tetrazzini!" Piper scoffed, laughing incredulously as she went on rambling to Henry, who was nodding and chiming in every so often while he was watching the news. "Can you believe that?! Like _I_ would try to be _nice_ to _Jana_! I wouldn't even be nice to her by accident!" Piper frowned, glaring at her brother as he turned the TV up and leaned forward on the couch.

"Shh…" Henry waved a hand in his sister's face to silence her as Captain Man's photo was shown on the screen.

"Oh you did not just shush me!" Piper bellowed, jumping up to stand in front of the TV. "Pay attention to me! Henry!"

"Piper, cut it out! I'm trying to see what's going on with Captain Man!" Henry yelled, trying to look past her to see the television. Piper seemed to calm down a bit at the mention of her favorite hero.

"Well move over!" The girl demanded, squishing into the spot on the couch beside the armrest instead of taking the empty seat in the middle. Henry rolled his eyes and turned up the volume.

" _Yes, that's right Trent..." Evelyn Hall answered, adjusting her earpiece as she spoke. "I'm standing here in front of Swellview prison where one of their most dangerous inmates, a man who goes only by the name of 'Drex', escaped around noon time today." There was a brief pause before she nodded at whatever she was told through her earpiece and continued. "We can also confirm that this 'Drex' individual delivered a message for Swellview's own Captain Man, promising that he wouldn't be able to stop him." Evelyn sighed, seemingly annoyed by having to say the hero's name. "For now we encourage all citizens to stay indoors and report any suspicious activity to the police. This has been Evelyn Hall, KLVY News."_

"Drex?" Henry frowned, trying to think back to whether he'd helped Captain Man take down any criminals by that name. He couldn't think of anyone with even a remotely similar name, but he knew one thing for sure… he needed to find Captain Man, especially because he hadn't beeped Henry to ask for his help like he always did. If what the news had said about Drex was true then it would definitely be more practical for the hero to have his sidekick there to help in the fight that was sure to happen.

"Wow!" Piper jumped up off the couch again, pulling Henry from his thoughts. "This is so cool! A real criminal from actual prison just called Captain Man out! I gotta get the Man Fans together, this is huge!" The girl hurried up the stairs to get her laptop, saving Henry from having to make up some excuse about why he was suddenly in such a hurry to leave. Quickly, Henry made his way onto the porch and looked around to make sure the coast was clear, then he popped a gumball and used his watch to beep Ray.

"Come on, pick up!" Henry whispered as he waited impatiently for the man to answer. "Captain Man!"

"Heeey, Kid." The hero responded, acting strange. Kid Danger noticed, but realized he didn't have time to scrutinize him over it.

"What's going on?" The young boy asked. "There was just a thing on the news about some dangerous criminal who thinks he can overpower you… Drex, I think."

"Yeah, I know all about it." Captain Man responded sourly. "I'm all over it Kid, no need to worry." The hero's tone wasn't very convincing, though he tried to fool his sidekick with a smile. The boy wasn't buying it.

"Why didn't you beep me?"

"I didn't want to bother you while you were in school." Captain Man answered, though the both of them immediately knew that the hero had no qualms about asking his sidekick to ditch school when he needed an extra hand to defeat some lowlife criminal.

"Captain Man…" The boy said firmly, the look of concern on his face weighed on Captain Man until he made a face and sighed.

"Look, I'll meet you at the Man Cave and we'll talk about it there. Deal?"

"Deal." Kid Danger agreed. "I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."

…

"Well, well, well." Drex casually stepped out of the treeline just as Captain Man had hung up with Kid Danger. "Who was that you were talking to Ray?" Instantly the superhero looked up, his hands balling into tight fists.

"Nobody." Captain Man lied, he refused to allow a deceitful, conniving man such as Drex learn anything about his innocent young sidekick. "What are you doing here?"

"So you just let random strangers have a direct line to your little… _toy_." It wasn't a question, Drex was playing with Captain Man now as he walked in an arc around him. "I love the superhero getup by the way. Blue and red… classic choice." Drex deadpanned, pausing for a moment as he stared straight into Captain Man's eyes. "I noticed that this 'nobody' was wearing something pretty similar. You know, if I had to guess, I'd say you found yourself a new sidekick." Drex laughed, a deep, roaring laughter, and shook his head with an amused little smirk tugging the corners of his mouth upwards. "You replaced me with a ten year old."

"He's fourteen and he's been a better sidekick to me than you ever could have dreamed of being." Captain Man shot back, defending Henry as he always did. "If you came here to fight let's get it over with." He growled, bringing his fists up. Drex looked at him for a moment, wondering for a second whether Ray's sidekick would throw a wrench into his plans if he didn't take care of him.

"You know what? I did come here to fight, but I just got a better idea." Drex smiled, doing his best to look innocent. "What if you and I teamed up again? You know, like old times."

"No." Captain Man answered instantaneously, narrowing his eyes at Drex. "I have a sidekick. A good sidekick who would never turn his back on me the way you did. I don't trust you, and even if I did, I've moved on to bigger and better things." Drex smiled, nodding as he listened to the bitter rejection his former friend served him. After a moment of uneasy silence Drex sneered and shook his head, apparently it wasn't going to be as easy to pull one over on Ray as it had been in the past.

"You'll regret that. Just you wait and see." Drex told him calmly before snapping out of his quiet act to kick a broken limb off a fallen tree. Without hesitation he used the branch to sweep Captain Man's feet out from under him, then threw the branch on top of him to slow the hero down enough to allow him to escape.

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 **A/N: So that was chapter one! There will definitely be more to come on this one, so be on the lookout for updates. In the meantime I would love it if you left a review letting me know what you thought of this! I always love knowing what you all think of my stories. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

"There you are!" Henry called, jumping up off of the couch as soon as he heard Captain Man's tube come down. "I've been waiting down here for almost an hour! We had a deal!" Captain Man frowned, taking in the sight of the young boy standing in front of him, he hadn't been expecting such a hostile greeting.

"Henry-" Captain Man started, but the boy stopped him before he could really start speaking.

"You can't just not show up when you say you're going to! Especially not after what that reporter said on the news about Drex!" Henry yelled, throwing his hands up in disbelief. Captain Man chuckled softly and shook his head, things were making a lot more sense to him now; Henry was worried about him.

"Kid, I was fine." He walked a few steps further into the room and rested his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Besides, I'm indestructible remember?" Henry sighed and shook Captain Man's hand off his shoulder, returning to his spot on the couch. The blonde boy sat there, silent for a few moments as he thought about Ray's superpower. In the end it didn't seem to smooth any of the worry off of his face.

"Are you at least going to explain why you didn't beep me?" Henry looked over at Captain Man with inquisitive brown eyes. Captain Man looked at him for a moment, debating on what to do next, but eventually decided that it would be better to tell Henry the truth… or part of it anyway.

"I didn't beep you because I didn't want you to have to fight." Captain Man put his hands up to silence Henry when he saw that the child was about to argue. "Let me finish. It's not because I don't think you're capable, because I know you are. I just… I've fought with Drex before and he fights dirty. Drex will do anything and everything possible to gain the upperhand, he won't stop attacking until he's sure there's no fight left in you." Captain Man shook his head, his mind looking at something in the past as he said all this to Henry. "The last time I fought Drex, I barely won… if you can even call it winning." The hero looked back to the boy on the couch. "I swear if I wasn't indestructible, I would have died in that fight."

"Wow." Henry seemed enraptured by Captain Man's story. "Drex is really that bad huh?" Just as he pointed out his observation, Schwoz stepped off of the elevator and into the Man Cave.

"Henry?" The man looked confused. "I didn't think you were going to be here today." Schwoz admitted. Captain Man took in a deep breath, praying that Schwoz wasn't about to do what he thought he was going to do.

"Well, I beeped Ray after I saw that story on the news. You know, the one about that escaped prisoner? Drex?"

"Oh…" Schwoz looked from boy to man, a lightbulb going off in his brain. "So Ray was telling you about Drex then, no?" The tiny man made sure he was just out of reach as he waited for Henry to answer.

" _Schwoz._ " Captain Man warned firmly. Henry shook his head, unaware of the reason behind his friend's odd behavior and went on to explain their conversation to Schwoz.

"Yeah, he was telling me a little bit about how he had to fight Drex before and it almost killed him."

"Yes." Schwoz nodded, casually walking over to the tube platform. "It's terrible to think about how Captain Man's old sidekick turned against him like that isn't it?"

"SCHWOZ!" Captain Man screamed, lunging towards the tubes. Schwoz beat him to the punch by a millisecond, protected by the glass that came down and encased him.

"See you later Henry!" Schwoz waved, pressing one of the buttons on the remote control he kept in his pocket. "Up the tube!"

"Yeah you better leave!" Captain Man angrily called up the tube shaft as Schwoz disappeared. He shook his head in utter disbelief before turning to see the broken look on Henry's face. The pain and sadness the boy's chocolate brown eyes held was suffocating. "Henry? You okay?" Captain Man asked carefully, any trace of hostility was long gone for the time being, he'd deal with Schwoz later. Henry frowned, not answering for a few seconds, trying to process the thoughts buzzing through his mind before he spoke. Finally, after a moment had passed he looked up at Captain Man, asking the question he knew he didn't want to know the answer to.

"You had a sidekick… before me?"

…

After Drex's run in with Captain Man didn't go exactly how he wanted it to, he spent a fair amount of time thinking about how he was going to make things work in his favor. This thinking time brought him to where he was now, standing at the front door of a run down looking home on the edge of Swellview's city limits. Drex pounded on the door, folding his arms menacingly in front of his chest while he waited for the homeowner to answer.

"Drex? I wasn't expecting to see you here." A man answered, seeming somewhat surprised by his visitor. "Long time no see."

"I could say the same thing about you Brad." Drex answered, playing with the fact that the person he was speaking with was invisible. "Listen, I have a little proposition for you. Can I come in?"

"Sure, don't mind the mess." Brad answered, opening the door a little wider for Drex. "The living room is over here. Sit anywhere you want." The invisible man said, giving Drex some sense of direction by letting him follow the sound of his voice.

"Thank you." Drex answered gruffly, slowly lowering himself onto a couch that was pushed up against a wall in the living room. "Now, let's skip the pleasantries, as I'm sure you heard on the news that I don't have the luxury of free time these days."

"Yeah, I heard all about that this morning. That was pretty ingenious how you used the police to call Captain Man out." Brad praised.

"Captain Man." Drex growled, shaking his head in disgust as he thought of how soft his former partner had turned into the egotistical hero he was now. "That's actually the reason I'm here."

"Oh?" Brad's interest was piqued. "Exactly what do you have in mind?"

"Well, I think that Captain Man is getting a little too comfortable, running around here throwing us all in jail to rot. Think about it! The Toddler, the Time Jerker, Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort, me… and I know I'm leaving people out! I propose that we take some of Captain Man's power away from him…"

"Drex, Dr. Minyak tried that-"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Drex barked, pinching the bridge of his nose. After taking a deep breath to try and regain some of his composure, Drex continued. "I mean his power in the sense of how he always seems to be one step ahead of any one of us! If we had someone working for him on the inside, I think we might be able to pull something truly diabolical and take control of the city."

"Oh, now you're talking!" Invisible Brad laughed as he said the words. "We were trying to get some ideas going during the last Criminal Convention, but there wasn't much we could do with half of us sitting in the Swellview jail."

"I get it." Drex answered, rolling his eyes in his mind. How stupid could they be if they couldn't figure out a simple plan on their own? Drex had come up with something almost foolproof on his own within the timespan of a few hours.

"What do you need my help with? I'm sure that's why you showed up on my doorstep."

"Well, I heard that Captain Man promised you a sidekick position if Kid Danger ever quit or failed to fulfill his sidekicking duties. How much of that is true?"

"It's true. He did say that, but that was before he thought I died." The man admitted. "If you're trying to get Henry to quit his job, you're not going to have an easy time with it." Drex, who was only halfway interested in what Brad had to say up until this point suddenly sat forward on the couch, very intrigued with what the man had to say.

"Henry?" Drex asked, repeating the name he had heard Brad say.

"Oh, yeah. Captain Man's sidekick is some goofy kid named Henry Ha-." Brad suddenly smartened up, catching himself before he gave too much information away for free. "How bad do you want to know?"

"Bad enough that I'm going to offer you a partnership. A partnership that will land you the title of Captain Man's new sidekick if you play your cards right." Drex smiled, trying to charm his way into getting what he wanted by offering this to Brad. "I would do this without you, but I have a complicated history with Ray, one that jeopardizes the success of this little mission. With you, criminals could reign supreme over Swellview, and it would all be thanks to your little double-agent act. So what do you say Brad? You in?"

"Oh, I'm definitely in." Brad answered, unwavering determination coloring his tone. "What do I have to do?"

…

"Aww, come on Henry, cheer up." Charlotte said, trying to be sympathetic. Quite frankly, she didn't really see why Ray having a sidekick before him was such a big deal, but if her friend was this upset over it, she couldn't just ignore it and tell him what he was feeling was wrong.

"He had a sidekick! Before me!" Henry whined. He'd been pouting over this since Ray had told him about Drex, and it didn't help matters that he'd had to hear the whole story again when Charlotte got to work and Ray had to explain why the boy was sulking on the couch instead of trying to help find Drex.

"Henry, I told you, Drex means nothing to me." Ray sat down on the top part of the couch next to Charlotte and Henry looked up at him with sad eyes. "I swear Kid, we didn't even fight crime together."

"But you wanted to, didn't you?" Henry asked. Charlotte rolled her eyes, intervening before Ray dug himself into deeper hole.

"You know, there haven't been any crime alerts other than the one from this morning. Why don't you two take your mind off of being Captain Man and Kid Danger and take a little break to have some Henry and Ray time?"

"You know what?" Ray clasped his hands together with a smile, he was willing to try anything to get the sad look off Henry's face. "I think that's a great idea! Why don't we go do something fun away from the Man Cave?"

"Yeah!" Charlotte nodded, trying to encourage the idea. "You know, Henry has a basketball game tonight, why don't you go watch him?" The girl hopped down from her perch on the back of the couch and went over to Henry, shaking his shoulders a little bit to try to get him to smile. "I bet Ray's never gone to a basketball game for Drex…" She added, looking pointedly at Ray.

"Nope, I've only ever gone to Henry's games." The man answered, getting up so he could grab Henry's arms and pull him off the couch. "Come on, we can stop and grab a frozen yogurt on the way there. My treat." The offer actually earned a small smile from Henry and he allowed Ray and Charlotte to push him over to his tube.

"I'm going to stay here and watch the monitors. I'll beep you guys if anything happens." Charlotte told them. Ray nodded and pressed the button on his remote to lower the tubes.

"You wanna say it?" Ray asked, looking over to the blonde standing in the tube to his right hand side, he knew that this was one of the boy's favorite parts of being his sidekick. Henry smiled a little and nodded.

"See you later Char!" He called, giving her a quick little wave before he looked up towards the ceiling. "Up the tubes!"

…

"Okay team, if we do everything just like we've been practicing we might have a slim chance at winning this thing!" Coach Bix said, looking at each of his players as the huddled up before the game. "Just do your jobs and don't blow this! Now, get out there!"

"Come on guys! We got this!" Henry cheered running out onto the court, waving to Ray as he ran by.

"Good luck Henry!" Ray called over to him. Henry smiled at him and gave him a little nod, all thoughts of Drex were gone for the time being as the boy concentrated on playing basketball.

The game remained close for the first two quarters and late into the third, but soon Henry's team started to fall behind. Coach Bix was beside himself that his team was trailing in points, getting even more angry when one of the other kids on the team missed a simple free throw.

"That's it! Oliver, you're out! Hart, get in there!" The coach ordered, shaking his head as play resumed. After a few plays were made, Henry was able to strip the ball from the other team and started dribbling towards the net. "Yes! Nobody's around you! Go for three!" Coach Bix yelled at Henry, but just as he was crossing the line at halfcourt the boy tripped over seemingly nothing and fell hard.

"Ah!" Henry landed with a thud and the ball flew away from him rolling into the sidelines by his coach's feet, the ref blew the whistle stopping the game once again. Embarrassed, Henry hastily tried to get up, but his ankle screamed in protest as soon as any weight was put on it. Ray frowned from his seat in the stands, he knew that look; Henry had gotten hurt.

"Hart!" Coach Bix bellowed. The man didn't seem to care that Henry had gotten hurt so much as he was angry at the fact that he had wasted a golden opportunity to score points for his team. "Get up off the floor right now and get back to warming the bench! You're running extra laps tomorrow, I'll tell you that for sure!" The man shook his head, mumbling to himself. "Good for nothing kid."

"Excuse me?" Ray asked, he'd made his way out of the bleachers to the sideline so that he could make sure Henry was alright seeing as how nobody else seemed to be concerned enough to do so. "That's a great way to talk about the kids. You do realize this is just a game right?" Coach Bix flushed a bright shade of red, he couldn't even think of something to say to Ray, but it didn't matter anyway since he'd already made his way over to Henry on the court. "You hurt your ankle."

"Yeah." Henry nodded, looking up at his friend, still embarrassed. "I don't know what happened..." He said as Ray reached out and touched his ankle, trying to feel for any obvious breaks. Henry hissed in pain, pulling his foot away involuntarily, his face flushing even brighter when he realized people were staring at him now. Coach Bix walked over to the two of them then with a phony smile plastered on his face, he needed to make it look good for the people watching.

"Henry, I'm going to need you to get up..." Coach Bix used his hands to motion standing up and then swung his arms in the direction of the bench. "... and get yourself back to the bench for the rest of the game if you're 'injured'." The way he said the word 'injured' led Henry to believe the man thought he was faking. Instead of looking to his coach, the boy turned to Ray looking for help.

"I think I can make it over to the bench. Just… help me up okay?" Henry held his hand out for Ray, but the man shook his head.

"I don't think so. I'm not letting you walk on that ankle and then sit for another God knows how long in pain until the game is over and someone can look at it." Ray answered, glaring at the man standing over them as he said it. "I'm taking you home." Ray decided, scooping the boy up off the floor gently. Henry didn't object to being picked up like he normally would have because his ankle was throbbing, instead he hooked his arm around Ray's neck and let him carry him out to the car.

"I just don't get how I tripped like that..." Henry sighed, mad at himself for getting hurt.

"It's okay Henry. I wouldn't worry about it too much, these things happen to the best of us… Well… not to me, I'm indestructible, but you know what I mean." Ray started the car and shifted into gear. "Let's just get you home so you can ice that ankle, it didn't feel broken to me, but it could be sprained."

"Yeah, I guess." Henry sighed, sounding pretty bummed out. "This just isn't my day I guess."

"Maybe tomorrow will be better, just try to take it easy for the rest of the night."

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 **A/N: Well, there's chapter two! So far, not having classes makes it** _ **WAY**_ **easier to do things like update in a civilized length of time haha. Anyway, thank you to those of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed last chapter! I'm glad you're interested in seeing how this story plays out! As always, reviews are appreciated and totally make my day! New chapter soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Henry! You're late." Ray called jokingly, smiling as he swivelled around in his chair to face the elevator. Henry looked livid.

"Yeah." He huffed. "I know." The boy limped over to the couch and threw his backpack down, looking angrily over at Ray. He wasn't mad at his friend, he was simply frustrated by the day he'd had. "I literally just got out of detention twenty minutes ago!"

"Detention?" Ray frowned, it was unlike Henry to get in trouble at school. Even when he had to sneak off to help Captain Man with something, he was always careful to make sure nobody noticed that he wasn't there, and for the most part he stayed on top of his work. "It's almost six thirty at night…"

"I know!" Henry yelled again, throwing his arms up in frustration. "First my alarm clock didn't go off, so I was almost forty-five minutes late to school. Then, _somehow_ , I kept knocking my things off my desk during my math test, so my teacher took my test away and told me that I could take an F _and_ I had to sit in the office for the rest of the period because I was 'being disruptive'. And then as if all that wasn't enough, Ms. Shapen asked to see my homework and it wasn't in my bag! I spent all night writing my report on the Revolutionary War and I made sure I put it in my backpack right away so I wouldn't forget it, but it wasn't there! _It. Wasn't. There!_ " Henry shook his head, continuing to wind himself up. "Now I'm almost three hours late to work because I got detention for things I didn't even do!"

"Kid, calm down." Ray frowned slightly, watching the child standing in front of him slowly break down. "I don't care that you're late, so that's one less thing that you have to worry about." Ray slowly stood up and walked over to Henry, guiding him to the couch. "Just sit down for a minute and relax… everything's going to be fine."

"I'm just having a really bad day, okay?" Henry held his head in his hands, shaking his head. "It doesn't help that I'm tired. I could barely sleep last night because my ankle was hurting and then I couldn't stop thinking about… things." Henry stopped himself from saying Drex, but Ray knew Henry better than that. The crime light going off saved the two of them from a long awkward silence.

"First crime of the day! That'll cheer you up!" Ray ran over to the Control Panel and hit one of the buttons. "You've reached Captain Man, what seems to be the problem?"

"This is Dennis from the hardware store, I'm being robbed! Please help!"

"Okay, Dennis, try to stay quiet and remain out of sight. Kid Danger and I are on our way." Ray hung up the call and turned to Henry. "Come on Kid, it's time to fight some crime."

…

"Okay." Captain Man pulled up infront of the hardware store in his Man Van and looked to Kid Danger. "I'm going to go in around back, you go in the front. If the criminal seems hostile or wants to fight, try to stall him until I get to you so you don't hurt your ankle again trying to fight."

"Got it." Kid Danger answered, nodding his head as he got out of the van and made his way inside. Dennis peeked out from behind the counter when he heard Kid Danger walk in.

"He's in the paint section!" Dennis whispered, pointing towards that part of the store. Kid Danger nodded once and quietly went over to the display of color swatches, where he found Jeff stuffing cans of spray paint into a bag.

"Alright Jeff, I caught you. Put the paint down." The young hero ordered, crossing his arms so he would look tougher. Jeff laughed at him.

"Psh, you don't scare me!" He scoffed, adding another can of paint to his collection.

"I said stop!" Kid Danger yelled, a little more firmness in his tone. Jeff sighed and looked over his shoulder at the boy.

"Tell you what. If you can catch me, I'll give the paint back."

"I'm not negotiating with- annnd you're running." Kid Danger shook his head, he knew Captain Man told him not to engage in a fight, but this was _Jeff_ they were dealing with here. The boy chased Jeff up the aisle, significantly slower than usual because of his ankle. Jeff seemed to notice Kid Danger's limp and laughed, climbing up one of the metal ladder stairs the employees used to get things down from the top shelves.

"Ha! I'm getting away!" Jeff cackled, stuffing paint supplies in his bag as Kid Danger followed him up the ladder. Balancing on the top shelf, Jeff started weaving his way through cans and buckets of paint. The young hero following him tried to keep pace with him, dodging paint as he followed behind the criminal.

"Kid Danger!" Captain Man yelled, almost angry to see his sidekick on top of the shelving system when he was specifically told that he shouldn't engage in chasing or fighting. "Get down from there!"

"It's just Jeff!" Kid Danger called back to him. "I can handle him!" Captain Man watched as Jeff jumped from one set of shelves from the next and knew that his sidekick was going to follow. On any other day Captain Man would have loved sitting back and letting the boy have his turn to play hero, especially when the criminal they were fighting happened to be Jeff, but not when it involved chasing the man on top of store shelves with a bum ankle.

"Kid, don't!" Captain Man yelled. Kid Danger, stubborn as ever to catch the criminal and prove his worth to Captain Man, especially after learning about Drex, didn't listen and jumped to the next shelving unit. The boy knew he stuck the landing, but as soon as he went to take a step he was falling into the display of wall primer. Five gallon buckets tipped over and seemed to move in slow motion as Kid Danger watched them roll off the shelf and land on Captain Man's head, knocking him down and covering him with paint. Jeff, who had stopped running to look back and see what the noise was started roaring with laughter.

"Thanks for the help you stupid kid!" The criminal laughed and climbed down from the shelf, running out of the store with his stolen paint tucked securely in his bag. Kid Danger cringed, slowly moving to look down from the shelf he was sitting on to find Captain Man glaring up at him from his spot in the puddle of sticky white liquid.

" _Quit.."_

"Huh?" Henry asked, spinning his head around to see that nothing was there.

"Kid Danger! Get down here, _now_!" Captain Man yelled, not giving the boy enough time to question what he thought he heard. The hero waited with his hands on his hips for his sidekick to start climbing down, when the boy was about halfway down Captain Man picked him up and placed him back down on the floor.

"I uh… I'm sorry." Kid Danger apologized, frowning when he noticed the hard look on his boss's face. "I didn't mean to let him get away…"

"I don't care about Jeff getting away!" Captain Man snapped at him, wiping paint off his mouth. "You could have gotten hurt! I told you not to do anything like that because of your ankle!" Kid Danger pursed his lips, trying to think of something to say to make this better.

"I didn't fall… I-"

"Enough! You're lucky it was the paint that fell from the shelf and not you!" Captain Man shook his head, pointing a paint covered glove towards the front exit of the store. "Move." He ordered, sounding more like a worried parent than anything else. Kid Danger didn't say anything, hanging his head as they exited the store and made it to the parking lot. There, Evelyn Hall, the reporter from KLVY News ran up to them and a camera was thrust into Captain Man's face, she loved catching the hero when he looked most defeated.

"Captain Man! Is it true that you just let Swellview's most incompetent criminal, Jeff, make off with hundreds of dollars worth of paint?" She poised her mic in front of his face, waiting for an answer with a cheeky little smirk on her face. Captain Man looked over at his sidekick and sighed… win together, lose together, they were a team, he couldn't throw Kid Danger under the bus for this and make him take all the blame.

"Yes, I let Jeff get away." He answered. Kid Danger bit his lip, looking down at the pavement feeling bad about the whole situation. He knew how much Captain Man hated looking like a failure to the people of Swellview, but he also knew that his boss wouldn't like it much better if Kid Danger told the news what had really gone down inside the store.

"How did you let such an easy target evade you?" Evelyn asked, rubbing salt in the wounds so she could watch Captain Man squirm. The hero glared at the camera, gesturing to his uniform that was now mostly white. "As you can see, there was a little _incident_ …" Captain Man shot Kid Danger a look before he continued. "... while we were trying to apprehend the criminal."

"Yeah, it looks like it." Evelyn snickered, turning to face the camera herself. "You heard it here first, folks. Swellview's own incompetent hero, Captain Man, let crime slip right through his fingers again tonight. Please be advised to stay indoors and remain vigilant as now _two_ known criminals, Jeff and the recently escaped Drex, are still out roaming our streets due to Captain Man's inability to do his job. This has been Evelyn Hall, KLVY News."

"Thanks for that." Captain Man told her shortly, walking the last few feet to his van. Kid Danger hurried after him, trying not to let Evelyn see his limp as he got into the passenger seat. Captain Man didn't look at him, he simply stared out the windshield as he turned the key and the van roared to life. Kid Danger decided that it would be best not to say anything right now and just let Captain Man talk to him when he was ready. The two of them rode back to the Man Cave in heavy silence.

…

"Ray?" Kid Danger asked quietly once they got back to the Man Cave and Captain Man still hadn't spoken to him. Captain Man turned to face his sidekick, at the very least he was willing to listen. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you… and I'm sorry that I dropped five gallon buckets of paint on you… and I'm sorry that you had to say all that stuff to Evelyn Hall." The boy looked down at his boots, ashamed. Captain Man sighed, swayed by how defeated the child looked. Instead of yelling or belittling him again, Captain Man pulled his sticky glove off and went over to rest his hand on Kid Danger's shoulder, squeezing gently.

"Apology accepted." Captain Man told him. "I just… I was worried that you were going to get hurt, that's why I yelled at you. If your ankle was okay I would have let you chase him around up there all day, I know you're a good fighter, Henry. You don't have to prove yourself to me if that's what this was all about, okay?"

"Yeah." Kid Danger nodded, looking away from his friend again.

"Okay then." Captain Man smiled, happy to make amends with his friend. "You go upstairs and watch the store for a bit, I'm going to take a quick shower to try and get this paint out of my hair."

"I'm sorry…" The boy frowned, looking at the matted down mess on top of his head. The man laughed.

"It's okay Kid. I'll come and get you when I'm done and we can order a pizza and play that video game you like. I'm not letting you end this day as horribly as you started it."

"Thanks Ray." He smiled, already feeling a little bit better.

…

About half an hour later Ray stepped out of the shower and wrapped a blue towel around his waist, securing it into place before going to the mirror and combing out his hair. He felt a lot better now that he didn't have a thick coat of drying paint stuck to him. He sighed a little, looking at the trail of white footprints he'd left all over the bathroom, he could only imagine what the rest of the Man Cave looked like, but it was nothing a little soap and water couldn't fix. For now Ray's main concern was getting upstairs to Junk N' Stuff to check on Henry, especially after the rough couple of days he'd been having. He felt bad that Henry was so hurt when he found out about Drex, then he'd twisted his ankle, and gotten in trouble at school… the last thing the boy needed was to be yelled at or iced out. Ray sighed softly, taking the short walk down the hall from the bathroom to his bedroom so he could get dressed, but he stopped short as soon as he shut his door and turned around to find Drex standing there leaning against the wall.

"Hello Ray." The man smirked. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" He asked, noticing Ray's dripping hair and the fact that he was only wearing a towel.

"How did you find this place?" Ray growled, ignoring Drex's attempt to make him feel uncomfortable. "I didn't even have the Man Cave when you were my sidekick."

"I have my ways." Drex answered vaguely, waving the question away with a menacing step forward. He didn't need to mention that Brad was helping him, or the fact that he'd learned quite a bit of sensitive information from the man. "I saw your interview on the news."

"What do you want Drex?" Ray asked, standing his ground. It felt wrong to have the criminal down here, as far as Ray was concerned the Man Cave was Henry's territory and this man had no right coming down here.

"I'm going to give you one more chance to give up on that little loser and join a winning team. If he can't beat someone as idiotic as Jeff, what's he going to do when he's up against a real criminal?!" Drex put a hand up to silence Ray, knowing just by the angry look he was wearing that he would try to defend his sidekick. "I saw the ticked off little glare you gave him on the news. It was Henry's fault you ended up covered in paint wasn't it?" Drex waited, growing impatient when Ray didn't respond right away. "It's a simple question Ray, really."

"Did you say… Henry?" Ray asked, a new type of anger bubbling up inside of him. Drex flinched, his mouth starting to turn down into a frown for a moment before he caught himself. He hadn't meant to reveal that he knew Kid Danger's identity, but since he had, he would make it work.

"Well that's Kid Danger's real name isn't it?" Drex smiled, he wanted to see Ray squirm. "Fourteen year old Henry Hart, lives at 24 Summit Lane in Swellview with his mother, father, and little sister. He goes to school at Swellview Junior High where he also plays on the basketball team. After school he works for you as a part time employee at Junk N' Stuff… or at least that's what everyone else is told. Am I missing anything?" Ray stared at Drex for a long time, not saying a word as he processed what had just happened. Instead of wanting to back down and have Drex gain the upper hand, Ray decided to put his foot down.

"I swear to God if you hurt him it'll be the last thing you ever do."

"Ouch, that's a little dark for you, no?" Drex grinned and cocked his head to one side, the shadows the lamp were throwing on his face made him look downright despicable.

"Drex." Ray warned, his tone was ice, nothing about him was joking right now. He didn't play when it came to Henry.

"Oh relax!" Drex smiled, putting on the performance of his life to try to seem sincere. "I promise I won't lay a finger on Henry's little blonde head." The criminal didn't give Ray too long to think about what he'd just said before moving on to the next piece of business. "Now, I'm going to leave and you're not going to stop me. It's the least you can do after throwing me in prison for all those years… but if that's not enough for you, think of it as payment for leaving Henry alone."

"Go." Ray spat at him, opening the bedroom door so Drex could leave. The two men never took their eyes off of each other as Drex left the room. "And Drex…" Ray spoke, stopping Drex for a moment. "I'm doing this for Henry… not because I feel like I owe you something."

* * *

 **A/N: That was a long one (maybe? yes? I don't even know sometimes...). Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, I'll be posting another one soon. Thank you again to all of you who have been reviewing, favoriting, and/or following it really means a lot to me!**


	4. Chapter 4

Drex was furious as he left the Man Cave, he couldn't believe that Ray's concern for his new sidekick trumped the history the hero had with him. ' _I'm doing this for Henry..'_ Drex snorted, shaking his head as he remembered the look on Ray's face as he said the words. How could some clueless child become so close to Ray in such a short amount of time? Drex steamed as he snuck up and down different backroads to Brad's house, by the time he got to the front door he'd revised his master plan of thwarting Captain Man and taking over Swellview to include destroying Kid Danger as well.

"You're back." Brad said as he opened the door, he'd been waiting for Drex to get back for a little while now. "How'd it go after I left?" He asked, following the man to the kitchen. Drex grabbed an orange soda out of the fridge and popped the top before turning around to lean against the counter.

"Well, Jeff didn't screw things up at the hardware store like I thought he would, and I don't think Captain Man caught on that you were there. Technically speaking, everything went according to plan." Drex shrugged, acting like he didn't care. "None of it matters anyway though, Ray loves his little blonde nuisance more than I gave him credit for." Brad watched as the can Drex was holding started to take on the imprints of the man's fingers.

"So what does that mean?" Brad asked, trying to learn a little more about how Drex felt about this before he offered up his own opinions. Drex thought about it for a moment even though he already knew exactly what he was going to say, he'd thought about it the entire trip back to Brad's house.

"It means we need to up our game if we're going to have any chance of our plan working." Drex looked up, somehow knowing where Brad was standing even though he couldn't see the man. "If you're going to become Captain Man's sidekick we're going to have to try harder. _A lot_ harder."

…

"Henry!" Ms. Shapen yelled as the boy tried to sneak into class unnoticed the next morning. "I see you didn't learn your lesson last night in detention. You're late."

"I know…" Henry answered through a stifled yawned, trying not to make eye contact with his teacher as he found his way to his seat. Charlotte frowned when she saw the bags under his eyes, it was obvious the boy hadn't slept again the night before. She was starting to worry about him.

"You know?" Ms. Shapen repeated back to him. Henry chewed on his bottom lip, watching as the woman crossed her arms and scowled at him. Charlotte knew that Henry was about to find himself stuck in detention again that afternoon if someone didn't do something, so she raised her hand and called out to the teacher.

"Ms. Shapen I have a question!" She shouted a little louder than she intended to. Ms. Shapen rolled her eyes, but turned her attention over to Charlotte and away from Henry. Henry smiled at Charlotte, silently thanking her for saving him from enduring another trip to the detention room. Charlotte nodded once in response, looking up at her teacher now.

"What?" The teacher asked, still bent out of shape because Henry had come in late and disturbed her lesson.

"I was just wondering…" Charlotte scanned the room, her eyes falling on the copy of _Hamlet_ that was sitting on Jasper's desk. "Uh… if _The Lion King_ is just another version of the story, _Hamlet_ , are there other children's movies that compare to Shakespeare's other works?"

"Excellent question!" Ms. Shapen praised, clapping her hands together as she forgot all about Henry and got ready to give the class a long winded explanation to Charlotte's question. Lucky for the students, the bell signaling the end of class rang and they were spared.

"Henry!" Charlotte hurried and grabbed all her things up in her arms, nodding to the door once Henry looked at her. The boy caught on, slipping out the door while Ms. Shapen was yelling that 'the bell didn't dismiss them, she did'.

"Thanks for that." Henry said once he and Charlotte were safely out of Ms. Shapen's sight at Henry's locker. Charlotte nodded, leaning against one of the neighboring lockers.

"So why were you late again?" She asked. Henry opened his locker, placing his backpack on the ground while he switched out the books he needed for his next couple of classes.

"Because my alarm didn't go off again this morning!" He shook his head. "I wouldn't mind, but I double checked like four different times!" He threw his arms up in disbelief. "I couldn't sleep and I just… I'm tired Char." Henry closed his locker door and leaned his head against the cool metal. Charlotte frowned slightly, she felt bad for Henry.

"Yeah… I guess this hasn't been your week. I mean first there was that whole thing about Drex, then you twisted your ankle, not to mention what happened last night. Captain Man didn't seem to happy in that interview with Evelyn Hall…"

"He wasn't." Henry answered sourly as he turned to glare at her, he didn't really want to be reminded of the misery he'd gone through over the past couple of days. He frowned when he saw the girl's face fall. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean it. I just don't know how much more of this I can take."

"I get it." Charlotte answered, a smile lighting up her face as she got an idea. "Hey, I'm going to the mall after school today to pick out a birthday present for my Uncle Rosco, why don't you come with me? We'll be done with plenty of time to get to work on time and it'll get your mind off of… everything."

"Sounds good. I'm up for just about anything right now."

"Cool!" Charlotte smiled. "We should probably start heading to our classes though… I can't distract your teachers with _Hamlet_ questions when we're in different classes." She laughed a little. Henry smiled and shook his head.

"No, I don't think you can. I'll see you after school."

…

"Alright guys, listen up. Today we're playing dodgeball." The teacher said, gesturing to the line of cones dividing the gymnasium in half. "I don't think I should have to go over the rules of the game at this point in the year, but I know none of you remember what anyone says to you so here we go. You get hit, you're out. If you catch a ball someone throws at you, the thrower is out." The teacher turned and looked at Mitch Bilsky as he went over the next portion of the rules. "There will be no balls being thrown in other people's faces, there will be no low-blows, and there will be no ball hoarding. If you're hit, you're hit… this is PE, not the Olympics." The teacher looked around at the bored looking students. "Now, if we all understand, divide yourselves into two teams and we'll start." After giving the kids a chance to break up into the yellow team and the red team the teacher blew his whistle and the game started.

"You're all going down!" Mitch screamed, eyeing Henry. "I'm coming for you Hart! You better watch yourself."

"Yeah, whatever." Henry answered, rolling his eyes as he picked one of the balls up. Dodgeball was one of Henry's favorite games to play in gym class and he wasn't about to let Mitch ruin his good time.

As the game went on Henry managed to get a few yellow team players out, and his team had managed to keep at least some of their players alive as well. Normally the teacher would have had to reset another game by now, but for the moment this round was going strong. The red team had two other players beside Henry and three members of the yellow team were keeping them plenty busy, that meant Mitch would finally get the one-on-one match up against Henry he wanted. The older boy whipped a ball past Henry's head to get his attention, it slammed into the wall behind the younger boy and bounced, rolling back over to Mitch.

"You ready to lose?" Mitch asked, raising an eyebrow as he smirked at the boy.

"Come on Mitch! It's just a game!" Henry called back, jumping out of the way just as Mitch lobbed another ball his way. Henry shook his head, picking the ball up as it rolled past him on it's way back to Mitch.

"Come on Hart!" Mitch closed his eyes, taunting Henry. "I'll give you a freebie! Hit me!" Henry narrowed his eyes at Mitch, he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to put him in his place. After tossing a ball up and down in his palm Henry threw a purple sphere towards Mitch, aiming at his knees. At the same time, a bright blue ball whizzed by, smashing into Mitch's face.

"Uh oh…" Henry frowned when Mitch Bilsky's eyes flew open and locked onto Henry's face.

"Oh you think you're real cute don't you!?" Mitch growled, stepping forward. Henry looked around him and noticed that the rest of his teammates were using the floor further to the right than he was, there was no way one of them threw that ball based on the angle it was thrown at. Henry backed up a few steps, his heart starting to race as Mitch stalked towards him. The boy turned to try and get away, but Mitch grabbed him by the back of his shirt and slammed him face first into the wall.

"I swear it wasn't me!" Henry cried, squirming as he tried to get away.

"There wasn't even anyone near you! Who else could've thrown it!?" Mitch asked, turning Henry so he was face to face with him. The other students watched, too afraid to do or say anything when Mitch grabbed the front of Henry's red shirt and twisted it, keeping him in place.

"The ball I threw was purple!" Henry tried, desperate to get Mitch to believe him. "The ball that hit you was blue!"

"Blue, purple..." Mitch said, tilting his head to either side as he toyed with Henry. "How about both?" Mitch asked, as he pulled back his arm and swung, connecting with the bone just under Henry's left eye. Henry cried out in pain, holding both hands over his eye once he was dropped and left on the floor.

"Bilsky!" The teacher's voice boomed as he stepped out of his office and noticed what was going on. Mitch smiled and held his hands up in surrender.

"Don't worry, I know my way to the office pretty well."

…

"Henry!" Charlotte called, walking over to the table at the food court her friend was sitting at. Her face quickly fell when he lifted his sunglasses up and looked at her. A deep purplish blue bruise was a painful looking beacon pulling her attention to the left side of Henry's face. "What happened to you!?" She asked, watching as the boy lowered the glasses back into place.

"Mitch Bilsky happened." Henry spat, taking an angry sip of the vanilla milkshake that sat in front of him. His pushed a strawberry one towards Charlotte and waited for her to sit down before he told her about the mishap during gym.

"Wait…" Charlotte stopped him, taking another sip of her drink. "If you didn't throw the ball, who did?"

"I have no idea, all I know is that _I_ didn't throw it." Henry sighed. "Look, I don't mean to ruin your shopping or anything, but can we just find a gift for your uncle and get out of here? I just want this day to be over."

"Yeah." Charlotte smiled sympathetically and patted Henry's hand. "There's a shop down at the other end of the mall that we can look in, come on." The girl got up, tossing both of their cups away before she started walking through the mall, leading the way to the store she'd been referring to. Henry tiredly shuffled a few feet behind her listening to the ideas she had for different gifts she might get for her uncle's birthday. Charlotte went on talking, not bothering to look back at Henry until she heard a yell followed by a loud splash. When she turned around, Henry was face down in the penny wishing fountain and a skateboard was overturned next to one of the potted plants, one of it's wheels was just starting to come to a stop.

"Come on!" Henry screamed, splashing angrily. "Why!? Why, why, why, why?!"

"Where did this even come from?" Charlotte asked, ignoring Henry as she looked around for the skateboard's owner. Even though there was a decent crowd starting to form due to the scene Henry was making, nobody seemed like they were looking for the board. Charlotte frowned slightly, narrowing her eyes as she looked from the skateboard to Henry, things just didn't seem to be adding up. "Henry, come on." Charlotte said, pushing her way through the crowd of people taking videos on their cellphones so she could grab Henry by his arm. She hauled him out of the fountain, daring anyone to get in her way. Without another word, she picked up the skateboard and hurried towards the mall exit with Henry.

…

"So he's not coming?" Ray asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. Charlotte had just finished explaining how Henry had ended up in the fountain at the mall and how Mitch had given him a black eye in gym class. Ray had not wanted to get news like this, in fact he'd been worrying about Henry ever since he'd dropped him off at his house the night before. After the little chat he'd had with Drex, Ray felt even more compelled than he usually did to protect his sidekick, and now Charlotte was here telling him that trouble had managed to find Henry again today.

"I wouldn't bet on it. He wouldn't even talk to me after we made it out of the mall." Charlotte sighed, pursing her lips. "I'm really starting to worry about him. It seems like he's had nothing but bad luck ever since… well, ever since you told him about Drex." Charlotte frowned slightly, this information made her even more suspicious about what was going on. "Kinda strange if you ask me…"

"Yeah… it is strange now that you mention it" Ray nodded, agreeing with her. The man narrowed his eyes and took a moment to think about what his next move should be, ultimately he decided that he needed to find Henry. "Look, I'm going to go check on Henry and make sure he's okay. You stay here and watch the crime light. You know the drill by now, call me if there are any emergencies."

"Will do." Charlotte nodded, taking her seat at the Control Panel.

While Ray was out checking on Henry, Charlotte used the time to try to get some answers to the questions she had about the skateboard. It didn't take her long to hack into the mall security database and find the footage of Henry falling into the fountain, as she had suspected the skateboard had tripped him. Charlotte backed up the video in slow motion, watching the skateboard roll backwards and stand itself up to lean against the wall.

"What?" Charlotte asked, scrunching her face up in confusion at what she'd just seen. She frowned, replaying the video a couple of times. There was simply no way that the board had fallen and rolled itself under Henry's feet on it's own. "I wonder if…" Charlotte started to say before trailing off so she could pull up the feed from the hardware store. The girl was about to look up the video from when Kid Danger had fallen chasing Jeff across the shelves, but an alert flashed across the screen, interrupting her. A break in at some sort of factory used to manufacture tools put Charlotte's investigation on hold so she could call Ray and let him know that Captain Man was needed.

 **A/N: So there's chapter four! I think I cut it off a little bit before I wanted to because it felt like it was getting long. I'm on vacation for the week so I don't know if I'll be updating until next week sometime, but there will be another chapter coming soon. For now, thank you all for reading, reviewing, and adding this story to your favorites/follow lists! See you next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

"We need a better plan." Drex said, the evil twinkle in his eye made it pretty clear that he already had one clearly mapped out, Brad decided to humor him and play along.

"Do you have anything in mind?" He asked. Brad had to admit that he was at least a little curious about what Drex thought they should do to take care of the Kid Danger problem, he was tired of failing.

"We need to _eliminate_ the boy." Drex told him, his face didn't falter as he said it, he kept his superior, icy calm demeanor fixed at all times. Brad was grateful that he was invisible, because he knew his face would be contorted into a look of disbelief.

"Eliminate?" Brad repeated slowly. Drex sighed, he knew that it would probably take a little convincing to get Brad on board with this new plan, killing wasn't exactly something in the repertoire of a villain from Swellview.

"I know." Drex shook his head, pursing his lips in a feigned mask of concern. "I didn't want it to have to come to this either, but nothing else we've tried seems to work. Didn't you say that you tried to get Henry to quit by harassing him once before."

"Yeah…" Brad admitted slowly. "I tortured the kid for almost two weeks straight and nothing worked. He's too stubborn to give up on Captain Man and Ray loves the boy too much to fire him anyway."

"Exactly." Drex said, his expression turning dark. "Don't you want to have that kind of power over Captain Man? You would be the most revered criminal in Swellview, but that power comes with a price." Drex held his arms out as wide as he could. "The world could be ours… one worthless boy's life seems like such a small price to pay."

"Well…" Brad paused, taking a minute to toss this idea around in his head. He had to admit the idea of getting rid of Henry and taking his place as Ray's sidekick was starting to have a certain type of appeal to it.

"He's made a fool of you Brad." Drex reminded the man. "What kind of criminal can't defeat a fourteen year old boy? Do you want to be remembered as being just a step above the likes of Jeff?"

"No." Brad answered too quickly. He was remembering how Ray and Henry had tried to trick him in the past, how his old friend had taken the side of his precious little sidekick, and how even trapping them in a box six feet underground hadn't been enough. The only way that he could ensure he would finally get his chance to be Captain Man's sidekick was to get rid of the one he already had. Permanently. "We need to destroy Henry once and for all."

"And we will." Drex smiled, extremely satisfied that Brad was giving in and going along with the plan he'd created. "We'll do it tonight. There's a warehouse just on the outskirts of town that would be perfect. It's sort of out of the way, that way even if Ray tries to save Henry it would be too late by the time he got him to a hospital."

…

"Henry!" Ray knocked on the boy's window from where he was perched in the tree by the side of the house. "Kid, open up…" Ray knocked on his window again, waiting as Henry crossed the room and unlocked his window.

"What are you doing here?" Henry asked as he watched the man climb through his window. Ray frowned slightly when he noticed Henry's bruised eye, he would keep this in mind the next time he found out Mitch Bilsky was up to no good.

"The crime bell went off. I thought you'd like to come with me to you know… fight crime." Henry sighed, going over to sit on the edge of his bed. "I thought it might give you a break from… all that…" Ray told him, looking at the tablet sitting on the bed, it was paused on an image of Henry sitting in the fountain with his cheeks flaming red with embarrassment. Henry's cheeks turned slightly pink again and he flipped the device over.

"Please don't make fun of me..." He whispered softly. Ray took a breath, he'd never seen Henry look so defeated.

"I'm not going to make fun of you Henry." Ray answered, smiling brightly. "As a matter of fact, you don't have to worry about anyone making fun of you for a little while because they won't recognize you." Ray took his own gumballs out of his pocket and shook them in Henry's direction so he'd understand what he meant. "They can't make fun of Henry if he's busy being Kid Danger." Henry actually smiled, shaking his head before letting out a little laugh.

"Just admit it! You're too lazy to fight crime on your own now!" He teased, stretching across his bed to get his spare gumballs from behind the picture on the wall.

"Maybe…" Ray smirked, popping a gumball. "... but I did get you to smile so that's something."

"Whatever." Henry rolled his eyes, chewing a piece of gum before going to the window and jumping out. "Where are we headed?"

"The tool factory at the outskirts of town."

...

"It doesn't look like anyone's here." Kid Danger said as he got out of the Man Van and walked with Captain Man to the factory's entrance.

"Well it is getting late." Captain Man zapped the lock and pushed the door open. "All of the workers should have gone home by now, but the crime light doesn't just go off for no reason."

"True…" Kid Danger answered, trying one of the light switches on the wall behind a desk that was stationed beside two swinging doors that read 'Danger, Employees Only'. "The lights aren't working."

"Whoever's here must have tripped the power." Captain Man decided, scanning the room to see if anything seemed out of the ordinary. There was just enough light from the street lights gleaming through the windows to allow them to see. "Everything looks okay out here…" The hero told his sidekick cautiously. "Let's check in there." He said, nodding towards the swinging doors, Kid Danger nodded in agreement and pushed his way through the doors. Captain Man watched as his sidekick walked into the middle of the room, but for some reason the hero felt uneasy. After he was a few steps deep into the room Captain Man paused, slowly turning his attention to his right side. Before the man had a chance to turn his attention to his other side, Drex came out of the shadows, punching and kicking in every direction with deadly accuracy.

"Captain Man!" Kid Danger screamed, whipping around to watch in horror as the hero's feet were swept out from under him. The boy took a step towards them, but Captain Man immediately yelled at him to stop.

"Get out of here Kid! Go! That's an order!" Captain Man called, rolling to his side just in time to miss being hit in the shoulder by a metal pole. Drex smirked at him.

"What's a matter Ray? Don't want to introduce me to your little friend?" He asked, pinning Captain Man's arms to his side as he knelt over him, he loved watching him struggle. The hero glared at the villain, remembering their conversation from a few nights before.

"You said you wouldn't hurt him." Captain Man said through his teeth, no sooner were the words out the sound of a box falling off of a shelf across the room filled the room. Dust swirled around the room, some of it coming to rest in the floating silhouette of a man.

"You're right Ray." Drex laughed. "I said _I_ wouldn't hurt him." Captain Man started to struggle harder as he watched the silhouette reach down and pick up a two by four that had fallen, immediately he realize just who he was dealing with.

"Kid! Hold on, I'm coming!" Captain Man cried, watching as the young blonde started taking intimidated steps backwards. Kid Danger was afraid of Brad and Captain Man didn't blame him after everything the man had put him through in the past.

"You're not going anywhere." Drex retorted, swinging at Captain Man once again. The hero caught the fist, his attention turning away from his sidekick.

"What's wrong Henry?" Brad laughed. "Can't hit someone you can't see?" Brad used his two by four as a baseball bat and swung at Kid Danger, barely missing as the boy ducked and covered his head. The boy frowned, looking around to try and find something he could use to defend himself.

"Leave me alone!" Kid Danger yelled as Brad swung the wood at him again, he bolted towards the door towards the staircase a few feet away.

"Some sidekick you have. Isn't he supposed to be running to your aid instead of running away?" Drex asked. Captain Man growled, twisting so he could pull his knees up and kick Drex off of him. Drex landed on his feet, laughing at Captain Man's feeble attempt to fight him. Immediately, Captain Man realized his mistake when Drex glanced towards the door Kid Danger had just gone through.

"This is between you and me!" Captain Man growled, reaching to his belt for his mini-laser. Drex snorted out a laugh and held the device up.

"Looking for something?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Wow, and here I thought we were going to have a fair fight. Guess I was wrong!" The villain said before shoving a shelving system full of tools and materials on top of Captain Man. Drex used the time it took for Captain Man to dig his way out to slam the door to the stairs shut, using Captain Man's laser to melt the metal around the door so it couldn't be opened. When he got to the second floor he did the same thing.

"Drex?!" Henry cried, he looked terrified, but that could have had something to do with the disheveled appearance of the room.

"You've been keeping him busy." Drex praised. Brad laughed a little, his nod visible enough to be seen due to the dust covering him in patches. The man was enjoying the chance to act like a criminal again, he'd had to lay low for far too long because of Captain Man and his sidekick.

"What about Captain Man?" Brad asked. Drex held up the laser in his hand, loud banging and cursing could be heard from the bottom of the staircase.

"Taken care of for now, but we need to finish this..." Drex kicked a long plank of wood down through one of the large windows and started stalking towards Kid Danger. "... now." Brad nodded again, coming in to block Kid Danger's other side. With Drex armed with Captain Man's zapper, and Brad armed with his two by four, the only way Kid Danger could go was back towards the broken window, there was no way he could fight the both of them alone. Drex and Brad kept the pressure on the boy until he was standing on the fallen board on the outside of the building.

"Long way down, huh?" Brad laughed. Kid Danger swallowed hard as he looked down, though they were only on the second floor, the drop seemed to be at least four stories high.

"Don't even try it!" Drex snorted, watching as Henry carefully tried to reach for the weapon sitting in his utility belt, as soon as the little laser was out of its holster Drex zapped it and the boy watched it fall down… down… down.

"Help!" Kid Danger called, his voice barely audible due to the amount of fear he was feeling. The boy's legs were shaking as he tried to stay perfectly still so he wouldn't fall. Drex and Brad both laughed.

"Is poor little Henry scared?" Brad asked, his voice patronizing, as if he were talking to a baby.

"I'm not scared!" Kid Danger yelled back, lying to try to save his pride. Drex raised an eyebrow, a devilish smile forming on his face as he used his boot to slide the board out further into the open air.

"How about now?" The villain asked, using his foot to bounce the board up and down. The child standing on the other end teetered, losing his balance for just a second. A second was all it took, Drex pulled the board in a little ways with a quick yank, causing Kid Danger to fall.

"Help!" Kid Danger screamed as he grabbed the corner of the board with one hand, he struggled to swing his other hand up. "Please! Captain Man! Someone! Help!" He yelled as he tried to bring his legs up to wrap around the board, his limbs felt as heavy as cement though and he couldn't do it.

"I thought you weren't scared." Drex countered, taking confident steps out onto the board so he could look down at the terrified little kid. Brad, who was standing on the other end of the board so it wouldn't tip down laughed manically, he could practically taste the victory he would soon share with Drex.

"Finish him!" Brad called out. Drex smirked, leaning down so he could pry Kid Danger's fingers off the board.

"No! Stop!" Kid Danger tried to tighten his grip, but Drex managed to get him off with little effort. He smiled down at the child as he held him by his wrists.

"Any last words?" The villain asked, letting one of the boy's wrists go.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for taking such a long time to post this chapter, I was on vacation and I didn't really have time to write. Anyway, sorry if this one is a little bumpy, I feel like I need to get back into writing this after being away from it for almost two weeks!**

 **PS: _HUGE_ thank you to Autumrose and TMNTGFKittySidekick01 for reviewing on the last chapter. You guys totally made my day when I got your reviews and I appreciate that more than you know! **

**See you all next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Drex!" Captain Man pounded on the door, but it was sealed shut. He could hear Kid Danger screaming from the other side of the metal door, but he couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Honestly it didn't matter to the hero why the child was yelling, it was enough in itself just that he was in enough danger to be yelling in the first place that set Captain Man off. He didn't take well to failing to protect his sidekick, he considered the task to be his top priority at all times and lately he felt like he hadn't been doing a good enough job. "Let him go!" Captain Man growled, kicking at the door. "Let. Him. Go!" Captain Man yelled again, punctuating each word with a kick to the door. The heavy metal barely bent despite the force behind it. Captain Man paused for a moment, leaning his head against the cool surface of the door. How was he going to get Kid Danger out of there? The hero shook his head and looked up at the ceiling, an idea formulating in his mind as soon as he saw the air ducts. "I'm coming Kid." He promised under his breath before he jumped and caught the low hanging duct, shimmying his way through the tight space. He could hear his sidekick's screams getting louder and more frantic, the sound fueled the boiling rage Captain Man felt running through his veins.

"Any last words?" Captain Man heard Drex ask just as he kicked the grate of the air vent out. The hero's heart dropped when he saw the scene unfolding before him.

"KID DANGER!" Captain Man yelled, letting himself drop from the vent. He landed on his knee, but turned it into a tucked roll and immediately got up to run across the room to save his sidekick.

"Drop him! Captain Man got in!" Brad yelled to Drex, a hint of panic coloring his tone, they didn't come this far to trip at the finish line. Drex didn't falter in the slightest though, he didn't even bother to blink as he let go of Kid Danger's wrist and sent him plummeting four stories down. Kid Danger screamed the entire way down, quieting only when he landed on a torn up awning and hit his head on one of the metal bars keeping it attached to the building.

"KID!" Captain Man choked, reaching out in vain as Drex strode in and blocked the window along with Brad. The hero felt his breath hitch, he felt absolutely sick to his stomach and tears started to well up in his eyes, as far as the three of them knew, Kid Danger was dead.

"What's wrong Ray?" Drex asked nonchalantly, he was unaffected by the fact that he'd just thrown the young boy out the window. Brad smirked and crossed his arm, still partly visible thanks to the dust and particles of sawed wood that had landed on him during his fight with Kid Danger. "I thought you prefered to work alone… my mistake." Drex taunted, there was an underlying tone of animosity in his voice, but he kept his feeling off of his face. Captain Man growled and launched himself at Drex, landing with his hand at the criminal's throat.

"He was just a baby!" Captain Man screamed as angry tears streamed down his face, white rage coursing though him as he choked Drex. Drex gasped for air, reaching up to try and claw Captain Man's hands off of him.

"Enough!" Brad growled, ripping the men apart. Drex choked in air, holding his neck as he tried to breathe. Brad positioned himself between Drex and Captain Man, he was tired of waiting. "Do you remember what you promised me? Henry can't be Kid Danger anymore seeing as how he's splattered on the concrete down there… that means I'm your new sidekick." Captain Man didn't even have time to respond before a hoarse laugh sounded from the man sitting on the floor. Drex got what he wanted from Brad, he didn't need him anymore.

"On the contrary! There's been a change of plans!" Drex laughed, getting to his feet.

"What?" Brad turned to look at the other criminal, laughing a little to hide his confusion. Drex grinned, he looked truly sadistic standing there.

"Did you really think I did all of this so you could get to play superhero? You were nothing more than a pawn in the larger game I was playing." Drex finally admitted. "You were a big help though. I never could have gotten to this point so quickly alone… I would have had to follow Kid Danger around for who knows how long before I could either kill him or find out who he was. You just sped things up and made the process a whole lot easier. I don't need you anymore, I can destroy this one on my own." Drex's eyes flashed back to Captain Man's pained face then. "I'd be doing him a favor by the looks of it."

"Are you kidding me?!" Brad yelled, he was absolutely livid. "You double crossed me!"

"That's what Drex does best." Captain Man spat, glaring at the man standing just a few feet away.

…

When Kid Danger finally regained consciousness his head was pounding and his vision swirled, his entire body ached. It took a few moments for him to remember what had led up to his being in this position: Drex dropped him because Brad had warned him Captain Man had made his way into the room somehow. The two criminals were trying to kill him and Captain Man probably thought they had succeeded; it was a miracle that they hadn't. Taking a shaky breath, Kid Danger carefully leaned over to look over the edge of the awning he was sitting on, his stomach doing flips due to a combination of the movement and the height. Even slower than before, the boy shifted his weight back to the middle of the tarp. The material protested under his weight, the sound of groaning metal and tearing fabric resulting from Kid Danger's change in position letting the boy know it wouldn't be able to support him for much longer.

"Captain Man?" The boy squeaked out, cringing when he heard more of the fabric giving under the stress of his weight. The awning was holding on by no more than a few stubborn threads and the rusted bars didn't look like they would last much longer. "Captain Man! Help!" The boy croaked out a little louder, dizzied by the amount of effort it took to yell. "Please help me..." He whispered choking back tears. The boy wanted so badly to just ignore the danger he was in and just close his eyes for a little while, but he knew if he did that he would probably never get to open them again. Between the week he'd had and the events that had led up to this moment, the child was completely drained. Kid Danger frowned, leaning his head against the side of the brick building as he summoned what little strength he had left and looked up to the window he'd been thrown out of. There was no way he could have climbed back up even if he was in better condition, besides that it was too windy to attempt it. The boy frowned again when he realized that the wind was probably drowning out his cries for help, he needed to think of another way to get Captain Man's attention but his head was so foggy.

…

"Did you hear that?" Brad asked, some out of place sound distracting him from what he'd been saying. "What's beeping?"

"Beeping?" Drex scoffed, he didn't notice anything beeping, but just as he was about to accuse Brad of trying to stall, Captain Man brought his wrist up to eye level and flipped the top open to reveal a hologram of his sidekick.

"Kid Danger?" Captain Man whispered, unable to believe his eyes. "Kid! You're alright!" He exclaimed, blind to the precarious situation his sidekick was in because he was so relieved he wasn't dead.

"Please..." Kid Danger choked out, only allowing himself to take short, shallow breaths as he felt more of the fabric separating from its metal skeleton. "... please help me!" He begged, his lip quivering as a single tear slipped down his cheek. Captain Man's smile immediately faded into a frown when he realized something was really wrong with his sidekick. Kid Danger squeezed his eyes shut, holding his breath as the last few threads finally let go and he dropped another inch; his life was literally resting on the will of a few rusty metal rods. Captain Man's eyebrows knit together as he tried to figure out where the boy was, his eyes widening as he realized.

"Kid!" He yelled, running for the broken window to make sure his observations had been correct. His heart dropped a little when he saw the boy trapped on the side of the building, he was still dangerously high off the ground and there was no guarantee he could survive a fall even from that height.

"I don't think this is going to hold me for much longer.." Kid Danger choked out, he tried to open his eyes and look up the building at Captain Man, but he ended up closing them again when another wave of nausea coursed through him. The hero couldn't argue, he could see a gap forming between the building and the plates the bars had been mounted onto the bricks with.

"Kid, listen to me." Captain Man said firmly, trying to keep calm for the boy's sake. "Stay as still as you possibly can, I'm coming to get you. I promise you everything's going to be okay. Sit tight." Captain Man told him as he pushed himself away from the window and closed his watch. The hero's legs felt like jelly, but he forced himself to move.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Drex asked, trying to get in the way and prevent Captain Man from leaving. The criminal had used the time Captain Man took to talk to his sidekick to revise his plan of action, but he underestimated the strength seeing Kid Danger alive gave the hero. Captain Man clenched his teeth, he wasn't going to be too late to save his sidekick a second time.

"Move!" Captain Man demanded, shoving the man away. "He needs me!" The man snapped, starting to move once again. Drex tried to follow him, but Brad intervened, dropping the man to the ground.

"Go. We'll settle this later, I have a few things to say to Drex for now." Brad called to Captain Man, wiping some of the dust and dirt off of his body so he was almost completely invisible again as he turned back to Drex. Captain Man didn't fully understand what Brad's motivation was here, but he didn't let himself question it. As quickly as he could, the hero tipped one of the tool racks against the wall so he could use it as a ladder to get up to the air duct he'd entered the room through. He hurried through the vent as fast as he could manage and sprinted down the stairs three at a time, moving as fast as he could to find his sidekick. There had to be some sort of window underneath that awning, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for it to be hanging from the side of the building.

"Kid?!" He called loudly a couple of times when he found a lofted balcony with a window in the center of the wall.

"I'm here!" A soft voice called back. Captain Man sprinted into action as soon as he heard the tiny voice, climbing up the five stairs it took to get to the loft in only a few seconds.

"Hold on Kid, I'm here!" The man yelled, booting the pane of glass out of the window with one swift kick and made his way up onto the windowsill. Captain Man swallowed hard as he looked down, he was by no means afraid of heights, but he knew that one wrong move would kill the boy stuck on the bars a few feet up.

"AH!" Kid Danger screamed as the remaining metal rods lurched even further down towards the ground. "Ray! Please help me!" The boy begged, not bothering to distinguish between calling him by his real name and his superhero name.

"I'm going to help you." Captain Man promised, extending one arm up to the boy, holding tight to the window frame with his other. "Lower yourself down. I promise I won't let you fall." Henry nodded hesitantly, the motion making his aching head swim.

"I… I don't know if I can." The boy whispered, flinching at the sound of the groaning screws starting to give out.

"You have to." Captain Man answered, locking eyes with the boy as he finally managed to look down at him. "I'm right here… trust me Henry." He offered his friend a reassuring smile even though he was panicking on the inside. The boy pursed his lips, forcing himself to swing his legs down and grasp the bars in his hands so he could carefully slide down the wall. "That's it, just a little furth-"

"AHH!" The sound of metal snapping cut Captain Man off and Kid Danger's screams pierced the night once again. Without hesitating for even a second, the hero reached out, managing to grab his sidekick by the shoulder strap on his vest as he dropped.

"Ugh!" Captain Man coughed, losing his breath as he slammed into the windowsill. The man lost his breath for a moment, but it only took another second for him to recover. Kid Danger looked up at him with terror-filled eyes.

"Ray!"

"I have you." Captain Man told the boy firmly, reaching down towards him. "Give me your hand." The boy frowned as his fingers tightened around Captain Man's. Kid Danger felt his heartbeat speed up as Captain Man shifted his other hand off of the strap on his vest and grabbed his other hand. The image of Drex standing above him as he dangled by his wrists flashed through the boy's mind; he knew Captain Man would never ever try to hurt him the way Drex had, but still he couldn't help being afraid. "Alright, here we go." Captain Man said, pulling his sidekick back in to safety.

"Thank you." Kid Danger choked out, burying his face into Captain Man's chest as he sobbed. The hero wrapped him up tight in his arms, not letting him go as a few of his own tears streamed down his cheeks, he was so relieved this boy, the boy who was more like a son to him, was safe.

"It's okay. You're safe now, I've got you." Captain Man whispered, holding him until he stopped shaking. "I'm so sorry Henry." The hero felt so guilty and responsible for what had transpired that night, he wouldn't have blamed the child if he decided to give up his gum now and never look back.

* * *

 **A/N: I couldn't leave you guys in suspense for** _ **too**_ **long! I hope you liked this chapter, I felt like the story could use a little bit of drama. I'll be posting another chapter soon so be on the lookout for that!**

 **PS: Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter. Thank you to those of you who have been reviewing, favoriting, and following this story so far!**


	7. Chapter 7

"What was that?!" Kid Danger jumped, flinching as a loud bang sounded from the floor above them. Captain Man squeezed the boy's shoulder reassuringly.

"It's Drex and Brad." He answered, leaving his hand on Kid Danger's shoulder as he turned to look towards the door. "Drex double crossed Brad. Apparently, Drex only needed Brad's help to get you out of the picture." The hero looked back at his sidekick. "All three of us thought you were dead…" A pained look crossed the man's face then and the young boy pursed his lips slightly.

"I'm sorry." The child whispered, though he knew that Ray didn't want an apology from him, and he wouldn't accept an apology from the person responsible.

"No." Captain Man frowned, his eyes falling to one of the bruises the boy had acquired during the past week. "If anyone should be sorry it's me. I let you down big time and no amount of 'I'm sorrys' would have mattered if you hadn't landed on that awning."

"I…" Kid Danger started, but couldn't think of anything to say to answer what the hero had just said. Another loud crash from upstairs saved him from having to respond. Captain Man looked back towards the door and then at his beat-up sidekick once again.

"Kid, listen to me and please don't argue, okay? You got to see just how hard it is to gain the upperhand in a fight with Drex and I'm not giving him another chance to hurt you. I want you to call the police and tell them where we are. I'm going to try and keep Drex busy until they get here to arrest him."

"Okay…" The boy answered. Captain Man looked surprised that his sidekick wasn't giving him a hard time about this, but in reality Kid Danger was only going along with this plan because he was too worn down to help physically. Captain Man nodded at the boy after a moment, sort of torn about leaving him alone after everything that had happened that night. "Go." Kid Danger told him, sensing his friend's hesitation. "I'll be okay here." He told him, taking his phone out to call the police. Captain Man sighed and forced himself to leave the room, making sure to close and lock the door as he left.

...

Upstairs, Invisible Brad was doing a decent job keeping Drex at bay; he wasn't winning the fight by any means, but at this point neither was Drex. In fact, Drex was positioned dangerously close to the broken window he'd thrown Henry out earlier that night.

"Captain Man!" Brad's voice called as soon as the hero stepped into the room. "Catch!" The man yelled as a long, thin piece of metal rod that had most likely broken off of one of the shelving systems laying on the floor flew through the air towards him. Captain Man caught it in his left hand and shifted it into his right palm, staring at Drex. Drex frowned, checking over his shoulder to see how much room was between himself and the window as Brad, who was only visible due to the floating two-by-four he was holding, inched closer. Drex was closer to the edge than he wanted to be, but he still wasn't in immediate danger of falling and held his composure well.

"What?" Drex snorted when he looked back towards the two men in the room and noticed the glare on Captain Man's face. Just looking at Drex's face had brought up intense feelings of uncontrollable rage and anger when Captain Man thought about how his old sidekick had tortured and tormented Henry over the last few days.

"You're not going to get away with what you did to him!" Captain Man growled, tightening his grip around the bar in his hand. A smile grew on Drex's face, a mask of pure evil finding it's way on his face.

"If you fail now and let me slip through your fingers again Henry won't be as lucky as he was earlier. I promise." Captain Man clenched his teeth together, he knew this was just one of Drex's tactics but he didn't want to hear his sidekick's name being said by this criminal.

"Leave my sidekick out of this!"

"Enough!" Brad used Drex's lack of attention to lunge at him, aiming his board for the more lethal villain's knees. Drex had anticipated Brad would try to deceive him this way and sidestepped him, for a moment he had a clear path to the door but Captain Man ran into him, tackling him to the ground. Sirens rang out in the distance as Captain Man sat on the center of Drex's back and pulled his arms back so he couldn't move.

"Is that the police?!" Brad asked, his voice held a poorly concealed hint of panic. Captain Man pulled harder on Drex's arms as the man struggled.

"Yeah." Captain Man grunted, struggling against Drex's thrashing. "Help me with Drex and I'll tell them not to take you in!"

"How can I trust you?" Brad asked, watching as Drex tried to kick out from under the hero. He knew Drex needed to be taken back into custody, but he didn't want to be burned again.

"Because I'm doing this to keep my kid… I mean my sidekick… safe." Captain Man called out desperately, almost forgetting that Henry wasn't actually his son in the heat of the moment. "Please Brad, he double crossed you once, if he's out of jail who knows what he'll come back and do!"

"Well… okay." Brad helped to restrain Drex, only because he needed to make sure that none of this would come back to bite him later on. The three men could hear the sirens sitting in the parking lot below them and blue flashes filled the dim room.

"Don't trust him!" Drex choked out, trying to trick Brad into helping him out of this situation again. He'd known getting into this that Captain Man was strong, but he underestimated just what the man was capable of when someone he loved was in danger.

"I trust him more than I trust you." Brad answered, unwavering as a stampede of feet running up the stairs turned into a group of police officers lead by Kid Danger.

"Get out of here." Captain Man whispered to Brad as the officers started to fall in around them. The invisible man put down his weapon and silently slipped past the officers while he could.

"We can take it from here Captain Man. Thank you." On of the officers said, walking up to the hero and the villain. The policeman got his cuffs out, pressing his knee into Drex's back as Captain Man finally got up.

"Kid?" The hero asked, frantically looking for the young boy from within the circle of officers.

"I'm here." Kid Danger called back. Captain Man let out a little sigh of relief and the officers moved just enough to let him out. Immediately, the man went over to the young boy and stood behind him, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Alright, let's go Drex. You know the drill!" The policeman that had cuffed Drex called as the small fleet of officers shifted positions as Drex was lifted to his feet and read his rights.

"I'm gonna get him!" Drex yelled, cursing at Captain Man as he was shoved through the room surrounded by officers. "I promise you I'm going to come back and make you pay!" The criminal threatened just before he disappeared from the room.

"Don't worry Kid, I won't ever let him hurt you again." Captain Man promised his sidekick when he saw the panicked look on his face. Kid Danger nodded, but he still wasn't ready to relax yet. "Come on Kid, let's get you back to the Man Cave." The hero suggested, gently pushing the frozen child in the direction of the stairs to get him moving. Kid Danger sighed when he got to the top of the staircase, his body protesting as he started the descent. "Do you need help?"

"No… I can manage." Kid Danger answered, too proud to ask for help as he slowly made his way downstairs. Captain Man patiently walked by the boy's side as they made their way out to the Man Van.

"Here." Captain Man walked over to the passenger side door and opened it for his sidekick, jumping slightly when he heard Brad's voice come out of nowhere.

"So Captain Man… it was pretty nice to have someone help you take Drex down huh?" Brad asked, walking around in all different directions so the hero wouldn't be able to pinpoint where he was standing. "It was almost like something a sidekick would do, no?"

"Brad…" Captain Man narrowed his eyes at the air as he looked around, unconsciously stepping in front of Kid Danger to keep him safe. "I'm not going to tell you again. I have a sidekick and that's Henry!"

"Henry didn't help you take down Drex!" Brad shot back, a hint of anger seeping into his tone. "I did that."

"Well that's because Henry was busy trying not to die!" Captain Man retorted. "I'm telling you Brad! Stay away from Henry or there's going to be trouble!"

* * *

 **A/N: Please excuse any typos that are in this, I was really tired writing this but I wanted to get something out for you guys to read. I got caught up in drawing instead of writing because I just got my new art tablet and you know what it's like to have new toys haha. Anyway, I think that the next chapter will be the last one on this! Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! This is going to be the last chapter of this story, but I have three other story concepts for the Henry Danger fandom that I'm planning for right now.**

 **I hope you like the chapter! Thanks for being so supportive of this story!**

* * *

"Trouble?" Brad scoffed. "You better be careful what you wish for Captain Man." The invisible man declared, walking away from the two heros without so much as another word. After a few silent moments passed, Captain Man took a few careful steps away from his sidekick and turned to look at him.

"We should get back to the Man Cave." He told the boy quietly. Kid Danger nodded and climbed up into the van, once he did Captain Man hit the door locks and closed him in. The young boy watched as the hero walked around the front of the vehicle and used the key to let himself in the driver's side.

"Don't you think that's a little… excessive?" Kid Danger asked as he sank further into his seat, sitting down made him ache, but it felt a lot better than standing or walking around. Captain Man turned the key and put his seatbelt on before he turned and looked at the boy.

"No, I don't." The hero shifted into gear and directed the van back onto the street. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again. I know that you won't quit being my sidekick and I would never fire you, so protecting you is the only other option."

"Oh…" The boy answered, his cheeks heating up a bit as he realized just how much trouble he'd put his friend in during the past few days. "Well, at least Drex is out of the picture now."

"I know." Captain Man shook his head. "Brad made it pretty clear he wasn't going to leave us alone though." The man sighed, taking a left when they got to the end of the street. Kid Danger pursed his lips, thinking for a few seconds.

"I just wish I knew how to win a fight against a man that we can't even see. Nothing we've tried when we've fought against him before works." The two heros stayed quiet for a moment until the older of the two perked up a bit.

" _A man we can't see_..." Captain Man repeated slowly, taking a sharp right hand turn down a sidestreet that Kid Danger recognized as a shortcut to the Man Cave.

…

Charlotte spun around as soon as she heard the sound signaling that Captain Man and Kid Danger would be coming down the tubes. The pair barely had the chance to step off the tube pads before Charlotte had crossed the room and stood in front of them.

"Invisible Brad is back! I traced the videos from the mall and from the hardware store when you were trying to stop Jeff." She shifted her gaze from hero to sidekick, not giving them a second to interrupt. "I bet Invisible Brad is responsible for all the other strange things that have been happening to you too!"

"We know all about Brad." Captain Man answered, popping a bubble so he was out of his superhero uniform. "He was working with Drex." Ray walked over to the computer and sat down, punching different buttons and clicking on random icons that came up.

"What do you mean 'he was working with Drex'? Will one of you please tell me what's going on here?" Charlotte looked at her friend for answers.

"The police arrested Drex, but Brad is still trying to take my job." The boy answered simply as he walked towards Ray and detransformed. Charlotte shook her head and walked over to stand by the monitor as an image of a strange looking blaster was pulled up on the screen.

"What's that?" The girl asked as she studied the picture, she didn't remember ever seeing this specific weapon before.

"That's the Invisiblaster that took away Brad's visibility, it's locked up downstairs in the storage room. I bet Schwoz could reverse its effects and make it so Brad becomes visible again."

"And if we can see him, we can beat him!" Henry said, a small smile finding its way onto the boy's face as he realized what the outcome of Ray's hypothesis could mean. Charlotte nodded slightly, trying to follow along.

"Okay, so if that's true and Schwoz can fix the Invisiblaster, how are you going to find Brad?" Charlotte and Henry looked at Ray, waiting for an answer. After a moment or two of thinking, Ray smiled and turned in his chair to look at them both.

"We're going to stage a crime scene and Henry is going to pretend to quit when the news reporters get there."

…

Henry and Charlotte didn't waste any time getting to the Man Cave after school the next day. Charlotte was reluctant to pretend to commit a crime, but after the boys told her about how Drex had almost killed Henry and explained that Brad might try something even worse, she agreed to help them. Schwoz had stayed up all night working on the Invisiblaster and reported that it would be capable of doing what they needed it to. Schwoz had even agreed to drive Charlotte down to the store they had decided to use as their crime scene. Everything was going according to plan so far, all that was left was for Captain Man and Kid Danger to put on their little charade.

"Hey…" Ray looked over at the boy sitting on the couch and pursed his lips. Henry hadn't said anything since Charlotte and Schwoz left and Ray could only imagine that he was worried about what they were about to do. "You okay, Kid?"

"Yeah." Henry answered, not looking up at his friend as he lied. "I just… what if Brad was around when we were planning all of this and knows what we're doing? We won't know for a little while whether he takes the bait or not and I have to stay away from here for at least a little while after I 'quit'. Ray sighed softly and went over to sit by the boy.

"Don't worry… this is going to work." Ray told him, frowning slightly as he looked at the bruises littering Henry's face and the visible skin on his arms, he could only imagine that there were more hidden by his clothes. "I promise I won't let him hurt you again." The crime light went off then, pulling the two out of their conversation.

"I guess that's our cue." Henry said, standing up so he could pop a bubble as he positioned himself under his tube.

"It's going to be okay." Ray reassured the boy once the tubes dropped down around them.

…

"Captain Man! Kid Danger! Thank God you're here!" A frazzled man who must have worked in the florist's shop screamed, running over to the two heros. "There's a crazy girl in there terrorizing my customers and destroying my store!"

"We'll take it from here sir." Captain Man assured him, hurrying into the shop with Kid Danger right behind him. Inside, plants were spilled over and dirt littered the floor. Charlotte had done a good job making it look like she'd destroyed the place, but there was nothing that couldn't be handled with a broom and dustpan at this point.

"You there, girl I've never seen before!" Kid Danger yelled, pointing at Charlotte. "Put down that rake!" He yelled, charging at her.

"I don't think so!" Charlotte yelled, sprinting towards him with the metal rake held in front of her like a spear. Kid Danger spun out of her way and let her hit Captain Man in the chest with it just like they'd planned.

"Oof." Captain Man let Charlotte's hit send him crashing into the floor. If she were being honest, Charlotte didn't really see why beating up Captain Man and Kid Danger was necessary, but she wasn't going to argue at this point. She pretended to wrestle with Kid Danger as she delivered an overly-dramatized sob story about how she'd come here six days ago and bought a bouquet that was guaranteed to last a full week, but some of the flowers were wilted already. The charade lasted maybe ten more minutes, and in that time Charlotte and Kid Danger had managed to knock over a display case of glass vases, rip open a couple bags of soil, and drop a potted plant off of a shelf in just the right angle to break it over Captain Man's head. When Captain Man noticed the news van pull up outside he signaled for the kids to wrap things up. Charlotte nodded and shoved Kid Danger into one of the piles of dirt before she grabbed a huge armful of flowers and disappeared out the back entrance of the shop. Kid Danger waited a few seconds before picking himself up and running to look out the back door Charlotte had escaped through.

"She's gone!" The boy called over to Captain Man from where he stood in the doorway.

"What do you mean she's gone?!" The hero yelled at his sidekick just as Evelyn Hall and her camera crew came waltzing in. Captain Man was aware of the audience, but ignored them as he picked himself up off the floor.

"I mean she escaped!" Kid Danger told him. Captain Man scoffed and shook his head.

"Unbelievable!" He snorted. "She had to be one of the easiest criminals we've ever faced besides Jeff!" Captain Man threw his arms up in the air and laughed shortly. "Oh wait, I forgot! You let Jeff get away too!"

"Well…" Kid Danger fumbled for something to say, fighting with his boss this way was such a foreign concept to him. "...maybe if you ever bothered to help me the criminals wouldn't always manage to escape!"

" _Me_ help _you_!? You're the sidekick here! _You're_ supposed to be helping _me_ , not the other way around!" Captain Man shot back, his eyes looked pained and he prayed that the boy knew he was only saying these things for Brad's sake. "All you do is make my job harder and make it seem like I don't know what I'm doing!"

"You _don't_ know what you're doing!" Kid Danger screamed at him, forcing himself to say the next few words. "Drex could have killed me last night!"

"Maybe it would have been better if he did… at least then I wouldn't have to babysit you." Captain Man answered, the words tasted sour in his mouth and he regretted them as soon as he saw the tears well up in his sidekick's eyes. Henry wasn't that good of an actor was he? Had Ray had taken things a little bit too far.

"Fine!" The boy yelled, unclipping his Whiz-Watch from his wrist. "If that's how you really feel then I'm done helping you!" Kid Danger whipped the watch at Captain Man. "I quit! Find yourself a new sidekick!" He shouted as he stormed out of the flower shop with tears in his eyes. Evelyn and her team watched in disbelief as the boy left. Captain Man used those precious moments of shocked silence to steel himself before he turned around to look at the reporters.

"Captain Man, would you care to elaborate on what just went down between you and your sidekick?" Evelyn asked, holding the microphone out for him. Captain Man glared into the camera and took the mic.

"I don't have a sidekick anymore."

…

A few hours later Ray was sitting by himself in the Man Cave, the place seemed too empty without Henry there with him. In fact, the man had spent the unwanted quiet time replaying the words from his and Henry's staged fight in his mind. Of course everything they'd said were planned lies they'd gone over so they could lure Invisible Brad back to the Man Cave, but Ray hadn't imagined he would feel this guilty. Maybe telling his best friend that he wished he'd found him splattered on the pavement the night before was crossing the line.

"You did it to protect him…" Ray whispered to himself as he squeezed Henry's Whiz-Watch tight in his palm. When he heard the tubes come down behind him a small part of Ray wished it was Henry, but the tubes appeared to be empty.

"See, now that makes sense." Brad said, walking off the tube pad as soon as the cylinder lifted. "I couldn't for the life of me figure out how you went from bartering with me to keep your… what was it you called him last night?" Brad paused for a moment, pretending to think. "Oh right, your _kid_ … Yeah, you don't go from begging me to help you keep 'your kid' safe and then go on the news the very next day and tell him you wish he was dead. I mean you could have at least gotten someone other than Charlotte to play your villain."

"I've had just about enough of you!" Ray yelled, grabbing the Invisiblaster off of the table as he stood up to face the direction Brad's voice was coming from.

"The Invisiblaster?" Brad asked, confusion coloring his tone as his eyes locked on the weapon in Ray's hands. Ray didn't waste time, he pulled the trigger and watched as a man's silhouette slowly started to appear. The shadowy figure gradually faded from grey tones, to muted colors, until finally Brad stood before Ray, completely visible.

"Well, that was anticlimactic… I thought it would have taken more effort to-" Ray stopped mid-sentence, realization suddenly dawning on him. "You were in the Man Cave last night weren't you?"

"Yup." Brad shot the man a cheeky smile. "I heard every word of your little plan."

"Well what do you plan to do now that we can see you again?" Ray gripped the weapon in his hand a little tighter as thoughts of Henry flashed through his mind. Visible or not, Brad would not be allowed to hurt Henry again as long as Captain Man was around.

"Well, now that you can see me there's really no point in trying to be your sidekick. It would have been cool when I was invisible because there'd be no chance I'd ever get hurt, but I've seen what villains are capable of and I'm not stupid. I'm not risking my safety for you… especially where you're indestructible." Brad shook his head, rolling his eyes at the same time. "You'd have to be pretty stupid to take that deal."

"Yeah, and?" Ray asked, his patients wearing extremely thin as he listened to what the other man had to say.

"I'm going back to my old life and staying as far away from Swellview as possible." Brad answered. "I won't tell anyone about you or Henry and you'll never see me again once I walk out of here." The man said, standing there completely still as Ray thought about his proposition.

"Get out before I change my mind." Ray said firmly. Brad nodded his head, rushing over to the tubes so he could leave.

"Thank you!" He called, heading up the tube without so much as even glancing back. Ray shook his head, waiting until Brad was really gone before he took out his phone and dialed Henry's number. He held his breath waiting for the boy to pick up, he was actually worried he might not answer after everything he'd said that day.

"Hey Ray!" Henry answered, he sounded cheerful enough. "Did our plan work? I've been waiting for you to call me."

"Well sort of… it's kind of a long story." Ray told him, slightly confused by how nonchalant Henry was acting about the whole ordeal.

"Cool. You can tell me all about it when I get there. I'll bring a pizza for us and I want my watch back as soon as I get there."

"Yeah, sure…" Ray answered slowly. Henry laughed a little on the other end of the phone.

"What's wrong? You didn't think I really quit did you? We planned everything we were going to say... there were no surprises."

"I know, but I wasn't really sure... I thought maybe I went a little too far." Ray admitted. Henry scoffed at him over the phone.

"Please! I live with _Piper_ , I can't afford to be that sensitive."

* * *

 **A/N: Well that was it, I hope you liked it! I wasn't really sure if this was an okay point to end things, but like I said at the top, I have more Henry Danger stories in the works for you all (and it's 3am).**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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